Folding-machine.



W. F. LAUTENSCHLAGER.

Patented Deo. 12, 19H3..

SHEET I.

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FOLDING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED 1UNE26. 191e.

` Patented Deo. 12, l9l6.

3 SHEETS -SHEET 2.

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W. F. LAUTENSCHLAGER.

FOLDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION min JUNEza. 191.6..

Patented Dec. 12, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- um@ I v WILLIAM F. LAUTENSCHLAGEB, F CNCINNAT, CHIC',ASSGNOR T0 LRENZ MUTHER, F NEWTON, IVEASSACHUSETTS.

FOLDINGMCHINE tsgqli'ggiyn Specification of Letters Patent. PQQHQ@ @96a1?), gjia Application filed June 26, 1916. Serial No. 105,939.

To @Hicham Maag/concern: tinuous moving ofthe knife when not de- Be itknown that l, 1iliiatiaii F. lniu'rnivsignedly in cutting position. Suchtendency sci-iniionn, a citizen of the United States, to cut or mar thework is entirely eliminated residing in Cincinnati, in the county of bymy impro-ved operating connection he- Hamilton, State of Ohio, haveinvented cercause of the fact that the slitting knife when 60 tain newand useful improvements in Foldnot in use is stationary. ing-Machines,of which the following is a he improvements herein described arespecification, reference being had to the shown as applied to a foldingmachine such drawings accompanying the saine anc. form as forms thesubject-matter of my applicaio ing a part thereof. .tion filed June 2l,1911, Serial No, GSL-.1:85, 65

My invention relates to folding machines wherein the frame of themachine is confor folding the edges of sheet material, such structedwith -two overhanging arms proas boot and shoe parts, and vamps, bothjocting horizontally from abase and upright open and closed,andthe like.forming the support for the machine, the ,i5 rlhe objects of myinvention are as follower overhanging arm constituting the 70 lows z-Toprovide an operating connection work-support, its end being of smallcross for slitting knives, andthe like, so consecti0n,'-what has beentermed by some structed that it will be directly connected to cylinderform, so as to furnish a'narrow the slitting knife, or other devices, atall work-support which will permit the folding times, and yet soconstructed and arranged of what is known or termed closed vampsf 75that the slitting knife may be moved to an vThis machine is alsoprovided with removinoperative or stationary position when. not abletable so that when the removable table slitting the material. isattached, fiat or open vamps may be read- A further object of myinvention is to so ily folded. construct and arrange the operatingconnecln the drawings accompanying this speci- 80 tion that by a slightchange in the location iication and forming a part tliereofHFigure andmethod of attaching a controlling l is a side elevation of a foldingmachine spring, the knife, or device to be operated, having myimprovements incorporated may be set or positioned to be eithernortherein and showing a section of the removmally operative or normallyinoperative, as able table; Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view 85 desired,and to provide means under the contaken through line 2--2 Fig. l showinga trol of the operator so that when said conplan of the work-support orlower overhangnection is attached to aslittingknife, he ing arm; Fig. 3is a sectional end View can at will cause the knife to cut or not cut.taken on line SMS Fig. l, with the standard This control of theoperation of a slitting and upright in the rear thereof eliminated 90knife is desirable because of the fact that and the removable tablebroken away; Fig. when the operating connection is used in a 4f is asectional side view taken on line 4-l folding machine it is notdesirable to cut Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a sectional side view of the the edgeof the work where convex curves slitting mechanism and its connectionstaken or seams occur, particularly on boot or shoe O11 line 5 5 lf o;and Fig. G is a view, 95 parts; and further, it is considered by somethe same as shown in 5, except that it manufacturers undesirable to ont0i' Ship shows the mechanism for operating the slitthe edges beingfolded at straight portions ting knife adjusted to its non-operativeposiof boot and slice parts. "With my operating tion as the parts havebeen assembled for Connection, the operator can cut or not out theypurposes of illustrating 'the invention. 100

the edges of the material being folded wherin' the drawings, lrepresents the rear ever and whenever he desires. standard of thefolding machine, and 2 the l-leretofore, in machines where the slitbasefor securing it to the bench or support ting knife has been directlyconnected with on which the machine is to be mounted.

the operating mechanism, the upper slitting 3 is Jthe upper overhangingarm upon 10.5

knife has been of the constantly reciprocatwhich is mounted the feedingmechanism ing or oscillating type. ln such type of maand thepresser-foot. chine there has always been a tendency to i is the loweroverhanging arm upon mar or cut the edge of the work, Varticiiwhich ismounted the fold-block, sl

larly where seams occur, due to t e conknife and the fold-presser. 110

Y clamping member 12 and the clamping screw 13 to the end of the shaft8.V The backward and forward movement of the feed-bar 10 is imparted toit by lthe oscillating movement of the shaft8. The upward and downwardreciprocating movement of said feed-foot 10 is imparted to it by theoscillating-movement of the shaft 9. The shafts 8 and 9 are oscillatedlby means of eccentrics 14 and 15 yao inside of the bearings on theconnections 16 and 17, as described in my application, Serial No.634,485.V Y Y The upward and downward movements to the feed-foot 10 areimparted to it by the connection 18 secured at one end to theoscillating shaft 9, its other end secured by the pivot 19 to an uprightforked ymember 20 Vwhich engages a member 21 formed on the collar22, thecollar 22 being split Von one l Side-Hand retained in place bythebinding` screw 23.

The oscillations of the shaft 9 imparted to thelink 2O andthence throughthe stud 21 and collar 22'serve to lift and lower the'feed-bar 10. Onthe lower end of this feed-bar 10 there is formed a feed-foot .24, whichas it is moved to the right in Fig.

3 and downward, engages the material, and as it moves to the left inFig. 3, feeds the material forward, and is disengaged from the materialwhen lifted by oscillation of the shaftV 9...

25 is a presser-foot which is designed to move downwardly throughmovement of the shaft 9, and engage the material just previous to thelifting of the feed-foot 24,k and ,is lifted and disengaged from thematerial just previous to the feeding movement of the feed-foot.

Tnstead of a lower idler roll, as employed in my application Serial No.634,485, I employ in this machine what l might term an idler plate 26which isfree to move backward and forward with the feedingA movement ofthe feed-foot 24. 1t is mounted on the rolls 27, 27, which have abearing on the screws 28,28, secured inthe end of the frame 4. Thisidler-block is formed to move laterally Y with the material as it isbeing fed. Immediately on the feed-foot 24 releasing its hold orpressure upon the material the idler-block 26 moves to the right, asshown in Fig. 3, this movement being accomplished by means of acompressible spring 29 mounted in the work-support and bearing againstthis idlerblock.

The edge-turning block 30 for turning over the edge of the material isof the type as employed in my said application, Serial No. 634,485, of June 21, 1911, heretofore referred to. The fold-presser 31 is of the typeas shown and described in my application of June 2G, 1916, Serial No.105,929, and is shown in cross section Fig. 4, and need not be morefully described.

My improved slitting knife and its operating mechanism is clearlyillustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. In Fig. 5, the knife and its operatingmechanism is shown in a cutting position, or in a position to operatethe slitting knife. The slitting knife 32 is preferably slotted at 33and secured by a binding screw 34 to an oscillating lever in such manneras to have a constant bearing against the lower cutting-block Theoscillating lever 35 has a bearing on the shaft 36 so as to beoscillated thereon. This lever 35 has an extension 37 which is pivotedto the connection 39 by the pivot 38, the connection 39 having acircular bearing 40 which is cut away at one side and is mounted uponthe circular bearing 41. This circular bearing V41,is formed upon theside of a plate 42.

The plate 42 is provided with a semicircular elongated slot 43 formedtherein, the slot 43 extending through the side of the circular bearing41. The plate 42 is pivoted to an oscillating lever 44 by the pivotscrew 45 so that it may be partially rotated upon said pivot screw 45.The lever 44 is movably mounted at its center upon the shaft 4G, whichhas a bearing in the lower arm 4 of the machine. The location of theshaft 46 is shown in Fig. 1 and again in Fig. 4.

The lever 44 is oscillated by a crank member 47 secured upon the outerend of the shaft 5. This crank member has a crank-pin 48 which isrotatively secured in the block 49. The block 49 has a. pivot shaft 50extending through it so as to pass through the hole 51 in the lever 44.Rotation of the crank member 47 causes a rotative movement of the pin48, block 49 and the pivot ,member 50. The pivot member 50, however,always remains in a substantially horizontal position, due to the factthat the pin 48 is moimted so as to revolve in the block 49. Therevolving movement of the crank 47 causes an up and down, or oscillatingmovement of the ends of the lever 44. As viewed in Fig. 5, thisoscillating movement of the lever 44 on the bearing 46 causes anoscillation of the pivot 45 and through said pivot the oscillation ofthe plate 42 and the projecting circular bearing 41 formed on the sidethereof. This oscillating movement, when the plate 42 is moved to theright hand end of the slot 43, as shown in Fig. 5, causes theoscillation of the circular bearing 41, and through it imparts anendwise movement to the connection 39 and to the rocking lever 35through the pivot 38 and its bearing 36 and this causes an oscillatingor up and down movement to the cutting edge 52 on the knife 32.

The plate 42 has attached to it at 53 a rod 54 which may be connected toa treadle, not shown, so that downward pressure upon the treadle wouldrotate the plate 42 on the pivot 45 to a position as shown in Fig. 6,thus throwing the circular bearing 41 so that its periphery isconcentric with the axis of the shaft 46. When the bearing 41 isconcentric with the shaft 46, rocking movement of the lever 44 willsimply tend to partially rotate the bearing 41 around the axis of theshaft 46 and produce no endwise movement on the connection 39, so thatwhile the parts are positioned as shown in Fig. 6 there will be nomovement of the rocker-lever 35 and the knife 32.

It will be seen that notwithstanding the parts connecting the knife 32with the crank 47 on the end of the shaft 5 are at all times directlyconnected, yet when the plate 42 and the bearing 41 are positioned asshown in Fig. 6, there is positively no movement to the knife 32 and itis held in its upward position, as shown in Fig. 6, and stationary.

As shown in Fig. 5, as the crank 47 rotates, the pivot 50 will movedownward. Such downward movement of the pivot 50 will rock the lever 44and throw the pivot 45 upwardly and the plate 42 and bearing 41 on itupwardly. The circular bearing 41 will have a rotative movement in thebearing 40 of the connection 39 and a lateral movement as well to movesaid connection 39 upwardly and oscillate the lever 35 on the pivot 36,drawing the knife 32 downwardly and its cutting edge 52 into ascissors-like shearing contact with the cutting edge of the lowercutting block 55, thereby forming slits in the edge of the material asit is fed forward, the movement of the slitting knife 32 when positionedas shown in Fig. 5 occurring at each feeding movement of the material.Likewise, there is a movement of the fold-presser at each feedingmovement of the material, the fold-presser 60 being pivoted on the shaft36, which is the same pivot point as the lever 35 is pivoted upon, thefold-presser having formed on its lower end a downwardly extendingportion 61 having preferably a forked slot 62 which embraces a pivot 63mounted in the end 64 of a rocking-lever which in turn is mounted uponthe bearing 46. This rocking-lever 64 has the portion 65 which ispivoted to the bearing 5() which is mounted in a block 49, which in turnis pivoted upon the pivot or crank-pin 48 secured in the crank 47, sothat the up and down movement of the pivot 50 heretofore describedcauses an up and down movement of the end 65 of the lever 64 and anoscillating movement to the pivot 63, which oscillating movement iscommunicated through the slotted portion 62 and downwardly extendingportion 61 to rock the fold-presser 60 upon the bearing 36. rlhefold-presser 60 is eXtensible, or capable of being moved in and out uponthe bearing portion 66, and is held in inward position by the spring 67,as shown, the presser 60 being moved outwardly by means of the lever 68,the end 69 of which bears against the curved portion 70. This lever 68has an extending portion 71 which extends downwardly under the removabletable 72 so as tc be easily manipulated by the operator.

As shown in Fig. 5, the plate 42 is held in the position shown in saidfigure by means of a spring 75 which may be made to fit around the pivot45 with one end fastened to the plate 42, as at 76, the other end beingbent around the portion 77 of the lever 44 so that the eXtensible actionof the spring 75 will hold the plate 42, as shown in Fig. 5. Theadjustment of the knife to a stationary or non-operating position ismade against the tension of this spring, as shown in Fig. 6.

I d o not desire to limit my invention to the eXact form illustrated anddescribed, or to its application to a slitting knife, or to anoscillating slitting knife. The illustration and description in thisspecification are intended to show a useful application of my invention.lt may, however, be applied to other types of machines, and toreciprocating, as well as oscillating slitting knives, without departingfrom the spirit of my invention.

TWhat I claim is- 1.- In a folding machine, the combination of feedingand folding means, of a slitting knife and means for operating itdirectly connected to said slitting knife, said operating meanscomprising a lever, a plate pivoted to said lever, a bearing formed onthe side of said plate, a pivot-shaft for said bearing, said plate andbearing having an elongated hole, one end of the ho-le being concentricwith said bearing and the other end extending outside of the peripheryof said bearing, a connection mounted at one end on said bearing and itsother end pivoted to a knife operating lever, said knife operatinglever, the slitting knife being mounted upon the free end of saidoperating lever, and means for moving the first-mentioned bearing to aposition either concentric or eccentric to the shaft upon which it ispivoted to render the islitting knife movable to cut, or stationary andnon-cutting.

2. In a folding machine, operating mechanism for a slitting knife, aslitting knife, a

connection for the slitting knife pivoted at one of its ends to theoperating mechanism and at its other end to the slitting knife, and

a pivoted bearing in said operating mechanism, so formed and arrangedthat the bear- Vcentric or concentric With relation to said pivot, andmeans for oscillating said lever.'

4. In a folding machine, a slitting knife, operating means for theslitting` knife, a connection pivoted at one end to the slitting knife,its other end being pivoted upon a bearingl in the operating means,means for oscillating said bearings, and means for adjusting saidbearing to positions either eccentric or concentric With relation to thepivot upon Which it oscillates to render the slitting knife eitheroperative or inoperative as desired.

5. A folding machine having a slitting mechanism comprising a stationaryknife and a movable knife, the movable slitting knife being so arrangedupon an oscillating lever as to have a constant bearing against saidstationary knife and so that the cutting edges of said knives Will passeach other and operate With a scissors-like action, said oscillatinglever, operating means for operating` the oscillating lever, aconnection for connecting the oscillating lever and the operating means,and means whereby the pivot on the operating means to which theconnection is pivoted may be adjusted so as to render the slittingmechanism either operative or inoperative, as desired.

6. In a folding machine, means for feeding the material, means forfolding over the edge of the material, means for pressing the foldededge, comprising a fold-presser having a fold-presser surface movablelongitudinally of the fold-presser, a slitting knife, and operatingmeans for the slitting knife, directly connected thereto, said operating4means having a pivoted bearing so formed and arranged that it can beadjusted to positions either eccentric or concentric to the axis uponwhich it is pivoted to render the slitting knife either operative orinoperative and stationary, as desired.

7. A folding machine having means for feeding and folding over thematerial combined with a slitting knife, and means for operating theslittingknife, comprising an oscillating member, means for pivotallyconnecting said oscillating lever and the slitting knife, means foradjusting said connection with relation to the bearing of theoscillating lever to render the slitting knife operative or inoperative,as desired, and means for oscillating the oscillating lever.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, this the 23rd day ofJune, A. D. 1916.

WILLIAM Fi LAUTENSCHLAGER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. C.

